CLS-Chapter 662

Chapter 662:

How much do you believe in the word “fate”?

I honestly thought it was bullshit. That people have predetermined paths and follow those paths?

That’s nothing more than the chatter of idle gossips who like to make up stories.

Living on the streets teaches you that.

Do you know how many children die without even getting to properly nurse after being born?

From epidemics, from hunger… There’s no reason why children die. They just die if they die.

But fate? Then are you saying those children were born just to die without ever being able to speak a word?

Bullshit.

There’s no greater bullshit than that.

But you know…

Looking at that bastard Wei Yan-ho’s life, I can’t just dismiss those words as complete bullshit.

Huh?

What bullshit are you talking about?

…You’ve gotten quite foul-mouthed.

Why do I keep going back and forth like this?

No, that’s not it…

The fact is just that.

If fate means people’s paths are predetermined, I’d call it bullshit, but if it means heaven intervenes in people’s lives, then it makes some sense.

Otherwise, things couldn’t possibly get so twisted.

Think about it.

Does it make sense for Wei Yan-ho to become that strong at his age by common standards?

Right?

It doesn’t, does it?

Right, it doesn’t make sense. There’s no way that could happen.

But what about reality?

Didn’t something that doesn’t make sense by common standards actually happen? Didn’t it happen through amazing coincidences piled upon coincidences, connections upon connections?

What are the odds of such coincidences and connections falling into place so perfectly?

It’s like the probability of a person getting struck by lightning twenty-five times in a row while walking.

What?

Isn’t that divine punishment?

This fellow is joking around. That’s not what we’re talking about right now!

Anyway!

That’s what I want to say. Wei Yan-ho’s life really flowed like fate. As if Wei Yan-ho perfectly followed a path arranged by someone to protect the martial world.

Of course, I don’t mean someone actually arranged it. I mean that things that would be hard to happen even if someone deliberately arranged the path kept happening to Wei Yan-ho.

And the decisive point was made at Mount Hua.

That was something that could only be called a trick of fate.

What happened, you ask?

Well, that…

How should I even describe that?

***

Blood-colored River Energy.

Crimson River Energy that seemed to burn surged beyond the stone wall.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and watched that overwhelming spectacle. Not only Mount Hua, but even the Demon Cult’s demonic practitioners who had been pressing their attack seemed entranced.

Kwaaaaaaaang!

The stone wall burst apart as a man wrapped in red River Energy slowly walked in.

“…Mad Blood Demon.”

A groan escaped Cheong-yeong’s lips.

Mad Mad Blood Demon.

The second-in-command of the Demon Cult who supported the Great Demon Emperor from behind.

A Bishop who drove countless people to death with his ghostly intellect and powerful demonic arts in the past war against the Demon Cult!

Some even say that the true center of the Demon Cult during that war was not the Great Demon Emperor but the Mad Blood Demon. That’s how much of a devil he was from the Central Plains martial world’s perspective.

That Mad Blood Demon now appeared before Cheong-yeong.

Wrapped in surging blood-colored River Energy.

The moment he faced that sight, Cheong-yeong felt the last hope remaining in his heart break.

Was it because he feared the Mad Blood Demon?

That wasn’t it.

The Mad Blood Demon being here meant the Demon Cult had committed their full force to this place. It was the same in the past war. The Great Demon Emperor carried death around the frontlines in a way unbefitting the name of a cult leader. But the one who actually commanded that Demon Cult was the Mad Blood Demon.

The Mad Blood Demon appearing at the frontlines like now could be seen as an expression of will to definitely destroy this place.

The Mad Blood Demon’s gaze came precisely to Cheong-yeong.

As if he knew that Cheong-yeong was the one commanding this place.

“The sect leader of Mount Hua.”

“…Mad Blood Demon.”

“Foolish bastards. If you had at least run away, you could have preserved those pathetic lives for a few more days, but you remain here hastening your own deaths.”

Cheong-yeong gritted his teeth.

“Mount Hua knows no retreat.”

“Those bastards who tucked their tails and ran away so well in the last war sure have lively tongues. It would have been good to burn Mount Hua back then.”

“You…!”

“It doesn’t matter. Mount Hua can be burned down anytime today. There will be no way to stop Mount Hua from burning except by extinguishing the fire with your blood.”

Cheong-yeong gripped his sword.

Anger boiled up at the Mad Blood Demon’s words, but inwardly he knew there was a high probability the Mad Blood Demon’s words would become reality. In his field of vision, he could see defensive lines beginning to break through here and there.

With the Mad Blood Demon’s appearance, the Demon Cult was intensifying their offensive even more.

‘Is it impossible…?’

The Central Plains had also done their best to defend against the Demon Cult’s invasion. Although they failed to predict that the Demon Cult would advance to Shaanxi, the moment they headed toward Sichuan, they were prepared to support Sichuan and fight to the death.

But reality, and the Demon Cult, were not easy.

They were still strong, and still cruel.

Seureu-reung.

Cheong-yeong, who had drawn his sword, glared at the Mad Blood Demon with cold eyes.

“Are you going to fight? With that level of skill?”

The Mad Blood Demon let out a sneer.

“Foolish. You are the one leading these people. If you made a normal judgment, you should tuck your tail and run away right now to preserve your life.”

“Run away?”

Cheong-yeong spoke with unwavering eyes.

“You are strong.”

“…”

“You were strong in the past too. It’s something I have to acknowledge. You possessed power beyond the Central Plains. But even with that mighty power, you ultimately could not conquer the Central Plains. In the end, it was you who tucked your tails and ran away.”

“You bastard!”

“Do you know why that is?”

Even though the Mad Blood Demon didn’t answer, Cheong-yeong continued speaking.

“It’s because you ultimately cannot advance further. You can only see what’s right in front of you. You have no warrior’s soul.”

The Mad Blood Demon put a sneer on his lips.

“Warrior’s soul?”

“That’s right. If I die by your hand here, that would be a great loss to the Central Plains. But if I retreat from here, that would be losing something even greater. We do not retreat. Even if the result is death, I will not retreat from here!”

Cheong-yeong’s voice started small but grew loud enough to ring throughout at the end.

His voice, infused with internal energy, spread throughout all of Mount Hua.

“Plum blossoms are destined to fall someday. But plum blossoms always bloom again. Do not fear falling! Your souls will bloom again someday!”

As Cheong-yeong raised his sword, the Plum Blossom Swordsmen all raised their swords in unison to show him respect.

Morale boiled up in an instant.

With that boiled-up morale, Mount Hua’s warriors began to actively drive back the Demon Cult.

The Mad Blood Demon narrowed his eyes and watched that scene.

“Pathetically hopeless.”

Crimson River Energy spewed from the Mad Blood Demon’s right hand.

“Before overwhelming power, everything else is meaningless.”

“Is that why you ran away in the past war?”

“Let’s call it one step back for two steps forward.”

“Then you stepped back once.”

“Keuheuk.”

The Mad Blood Demon let out a groan.

“It seems you’ve only trained your tongue while stuck in the remote mountains. Let’s see if that tongue can still wag after your head falls off.”

He wanted to shoot back one more word, but Cheong-yeong could no longer continue speaking.

The Mad Blood Demon rushed at him while spewing streams of blood energy.

In the past, the Mad Blood Demon was called the second-in-command of the Demon Cult.

An invincible demonic practitioner and the brain of the Demon Cult who assisted the Great Demon Emperor, the cult leader.

But that didn’t mean the Mad Blood Demon’s martial prowess was lacking at all. He was classified among the highest ranks of the Bishops in terms of martial power as well.

No matter how much Cheong-yeong was the sect leader of Mount Hua, directly confronting the Mad Blood Demon was a difficult task.

But Cheong-yeong did not retreat.

Death? Defeat?

What did such things matter?

People die once anyway.

As long as one is born a warrior, dying on the battlefield is like fate. What mattered was not whether you die or live. It was how you die.

Would he endure the disgrace of running away in front of the Demon Cult and live out his natural lifespan, or would he courageously fight against the enemy as the sect leader of Great Mount Hua and die?

This wasn’t even a question that needed consideration.

Death was frightening.

It would be a lie to say death wasn’t frightening. But continuing a disgraceful life was an even more frightening thing.

Cheong-yeong straightened his sword and rushed forward to face the Mad Blood Demon.

His sword made dozens of plum blossoms bloom in the air. A rain of flowers blooming magnificently.

The Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique, which could be called Mount Hua’s essence, displayed its true value in Cheong-yeong’s hands.

“Petty tricks!”

The Mad Blood Demon’s red River Energy collided with the incoming plum blossoms. Before the red River Energy that surged like waves, the plum blossoms were too powerless. The plum blossoms caught in the waves of River Energy became disheveled and faded away.

Kwaaaaaaaang!

The red River Energy struck Cheong-yeong’s sword hard.

Cheong-yeong’s body was flung back like a fired cannonball.

“Sect Leader!”

“Sect Leadeeeeer!”

Those who saw that scene screamed. The way he was flung suggested Cheong-yeong’s fate.

Thump!

But Cheong-yeong did not fall.

His staggering legs desperately stepped on the ground. The sword that should have been held straight stabbed the ground. Cheong-yeong, who forcibly raised his swaying body, had blood pouring out of his mouth like a waterfall.

“Cough! Cough!“

Just one exchange.

The superiority and inferiority were decided with just one exchange of moves.

No matter how much he emphasized the warrior’s soul and showed his will as Mount Hua’s sect leader, he could not narrow the gap in power between them.

‘I am…’

The physical pain was nothing.

The fact that he had no strength left to counter the Mad Blood Demon’s next attack approaching him wasn’t frightening either. What truly pained him was the scene entering his eyes right now.

Collapsing.

Being swept away.

It was as if black waves were encroaching on Mount Hua. Those black waves, the advancing Demon Cult army, were erasing everything.

Blood, corpses, and even the final moments of those who died here.

‘Does Heaven abandon Mount Hua?’

It wasn’t just Mount Hua.

Everyone here was falling under that merciless Demon Cult blade.

Everyone would die.

Everyone.

His will to resist to the end and kill even one more to save the Central Plains remained unchanged.

But…

But that was such a sad and painful thing.

Cheong-yeong gritted his teeth and shouted.

“The soul of the Central Plains will not disappear…!”

At that moment, an even louder shout swallowed Cheong-yeong’s voice.

“Why aren’t you jumping up right now, you fool of a mangdoooooong!”

“Ahhh! I’m going! I’m going right now!”

Cheong-yeong turned his head.

Everyone turned their heads.

Even though they all knew this was a battlefield where life and death were decided, they couldn’t help but take their eyes off the enemy’s blade and look toward where the sound came from.

At the same time…

The sight of a man leaping onto Mount Hua’s high pavilion clearly entered their eyes.

A white-robed swordsman leaping with the sun behind his back.

That dreamlike scene…

Then, the white-robed swordsman shouted majestically:

“I’d rather die than be sick!”

…It might really be a dream.

Really.